


Dad's Guilt Money

by writernotyetauthor



Category: Cinderbrush (Web Series), Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Canon Non-Binary Character, Fluff, Multi, Please leave comments I’m stuck in quarantine again and I crave validation, Polyamory, man i really want more cinderbrush but sigh, with this i have officially completed the trifecta of fan content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:40:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26345743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writernotyetauthor/pseuds/writernotyetauthor
Summary: You know that tiktok that's like DAD'S GUILT MONEY! DAD'S GUILT MONEY! That's this but in more depth.
Relationships: Aff Flowers/Sasha Murasaki/Cameron Solomon/Jamie Wrenly
Comments: 15
Kudos: 74





	1. Oh god why

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You know that tiktok audio that goes like DADS GULIT MONEY! DADS GUILT MONEY! DADS GUILT MONEY! This is that but in a little more depth

For a long while, Jamie believed that they didn’t have friends, only associates. Although this frame of logic made it easier to categorize the people at school, it ultimately made them sound like Sasuke Uchiha became a business major, which was detrimental both in terms of interpersonal relations and the fact that it just wasn’t as cool of a statement as they thought it was. Thankfully, they were able to remedy that mindset before those exact words actually came out of their mouth. The cure seemed to be a metaphorical bag of teamwork, friendship, and drama, an actual bag of actual drugs, and one of the many nights in jail that they didn’t have to spend alone. Given that, what is it that friends do?

* * *

“Are you… doing anything on Saturday?” Jamie asked. They opened their locker and shoved their English homework inside.

“Uhhh…” Af leant against the lockers and stared up at the hallway ceiling, trying to recall their weekend plans. The panels, some missing and showing exposed electrical wires, stared back. “Yeah? Nooo, I don’t have anything going on Saturday, what’s… what’s happening on Saturday?”

“Technically nothing,” they said, “But there has been a recent development.”

“Woah, really?” Af pushed off of the lockers and stepped closer to Jamie. “What kinda development do you mean? Like, is it a ~spooky~” they wiggled their fingers for emphasis, “thing, or like a-” they mimed what they thought smoking weed looked like, “-thing, because if its a-” they mimed again “-thing, I can be cool, I can be cool about it.”

“Surprisingly,” Jamie closed their locker, cracking a smile at Af’s enthusiasm, “it’s neither. Yet.”

Af laughed. They both started walking to the front of the school.

“No, it’s just that my dad’s child support check came in, and for some reason he sent me a check as well.”

“That’s weird.”

“It really is. Me and mom can’t figure out why, unless he started feeling guilty for some reason.” Jamie gripped the straps of their bag. “A check doesn’t really have the same impact as being a good role model and positive influence on your _son_ but hey, I’m 300 bucks richer.”

They said “son” like the word would burn their mouth if they left it in there for too long. Af had a brief vision of burned hands and a ritual knife.

“Your dad sucks.” said Af, a little short on words but very well stocked on screwing over authority figures. “You should spend that money on a thousand of those little like, palm reading hands but they’re all in a fuck-you sign!” They flipped the double bird as a reference. “And send them back to him. But keep one for me because actually that sounds dope.”

Jamie laughed at that. “Maybe. Or,” they put their hands up, “We could go somewhere on Saturday and spend it there.”

“Oh that sounds great! I don’t think there’s anywhere in town like that but-”

“There’s really not.”

“-if we use my truck we could probably go to the mall in the next town over! They also have a really good food court so we can get lunch too.”

“Yes!” Jamie closed their palms and shook them, excited.

They made their way to the parking lot, comparing notes on the various stores and food places at the mall.

“Wait, we should invite Cameron and Sasha, we haven’t all hung out together in a while.”

“I thought Cameron was working?”

“I think he was, but he told me that there was a leak or something yesterday at the quarry, which means that everyone’s off for the weekend until they can get it fixed.”

“Good. When did he say this? He was complaining about going to work earlier.”

“We have gym together. He probably found out during lunch or something. Do you want me to ask him, you ask Sasha?”

“Oh yeah I’ll grab Sasha, she’s… honestly she’s probably still in school now.”

The parking lot was emptying quickly as dozens of high schoolers who barely passed their driving test zoomed out of the school grounds. Af stepped up onto one of the front tired of their truck and lent forward for balance.

“Yeah she’s probably doing… cool Sasha stuff. Anyway, I gotta go and make sure my dad doesn’t flip out if I get back too late.”

“Still traumatised by last time?”

“Yeeeep.” Af grimaced.

“Me too, honestly.”

“Yeah I think we’re all just reeeaaal fucked up now. Like even more than we were already fucked up. Dad was gonna be driving me to school for the rest of the year, but he’s got work a lot of the time and I also nearly killed a guy to get this parking spot soooo.”

Jamie checked under Af’s car for blood spatter. They didn’t find any.

“So yeah, you get ahold of Cameron and I’ll get Sasha. Text me when you’ve got him.”

“Yes, Mr. President.” Af saluted them and hopped off the tire. They ran around to the other side of the car and jumped in, waving goodbye to Jamie before driving away.

Jamie let out a deep sigh. That was nowhere near as hard or death-defying as their brain told themselves it would be! Some would even say it went well! Now all they had to do was ask Sasha about it!

Jamie quickly un-let out the deep sigh.

The empty history classroom where the school democracy meetings were held was almost all the way on the other side of the school. By the time Jamie made it to the meeting room, they were really starting to regret wearing their two inch platform shoes to school. But not completely, because the height made them ever so slightly taller than Sasha and they needed the confidence.

Just as they reached for the door, Sasha stepped out of the classroom, a folder in hand.

“Oh hi, Jamie!” she leaned back to close the door. “I didn’t know you were allowed to be on this floor again.”

“Oh, shit, I’m not!” said Jamie, now remembering the dreaded incident.

Sasha opened the classroom door again and Jamie ducked inside. She then shut the door again, leaving Jamie alone in the dark, empty classroom.

“Wow, thanks Sasha,” said Jamie, mushing their face against the small window in the classroom door.

“Oh hello, Mr. Lawrence!”

“Fuck!” Jamie dropped to the ground, grabbing their jewelry and crouching on tip toe to keep their noise down. They heard muffled conversation between Sasha and Mr. Lawrence right outside the door. Jamie would never admit that the man scared them but he did concern them to a great extent.

The conversation seemed to be dying down and Jamie’s ankles were starting to hurt. Surely they could slowly-

Bzzt! Jamie’s phone buzzed from deep within the folds of their shawl. Not wanting to have the light blow their cover, they moved the pocket holding the phone and crouched down even harder, as if suffocating the phone would make it quieter.

They waited for ten seconds, wondering if perhaps this was too mediocre a threat to turn into their Darkest Self. They tried praying to some god before remembering that they abandoned all gods long ago and unfortunately their own personal god complex only started up again after their darkest self. Being a witch and a goth and a nonbinary person sure is rough sometimes.

They jumped as the door opened again. Sasha stood, surrounded in the heavenly light of the fluorescent hallway bulbs, with no Mr. Lawrence in sight.

“He’s gone, you’re safe. Oh, hey…” Sasha crouched down next to them. “Are you okay, Jamie?”

“Yeaaah, I’m good.” They stood up with a pop of nearly every bone in their legs. Finally, they rooted around to grab their phone. A text from Af lit up the screen.

Af: cameron says hes down

Sasha peered over their shoulder. “Is this candy related?” she asked.

“Why does everyone think everything I do is related to candy?”

“Half your personality was candy related for a while there, Jamie."

Jamie took two harm for that kinda harsh burn. “You wound me, Sasha.”

Sasha giggled.

“No, I’ve got some of Dad’s guilt money and I was gonna take you all to the mall, my treat.”

Sasha furrowed her eyebrows. “Which mall?”

“Probably the one out on the highway, the township one is a little bougie.”

“Yeah, I could probably make it, I don’t have my car right now though.”

“Af offered to drive, I just talked with them. Cameron’s coming too.”

“Well if the whole gang’s gonna be there I’ve just got to come.”

“Great, glad to have you.” said Jamie, quite out of breath.

“I have a key for the elevator, you look like you’re about to pass out.”

“I’ll take you up on that.”

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sup I finally wrote some Cinderbrush fan fiction wohoo! I’m working on the next & final chapter rn so it should be out relatively soon!


	2. stare at the desert for too long and you will begin to go crazy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't let gay people stare into the void, they'll have an identity crisis. Don't listen to them if they tell you the void is their girlfriend, either. She's out of their league.

“DAD’S GUILT MONEY! DAD’S GUILT MONEY! DAD’S GUILT MONEY!”

The cry of teenaged terror ran out from Af’s truck. All four horsepower were in full throttle, running on pure teen spirit but mostly gasoline.

“Wait, we gotta grab Cameron!” said Jamie, turning around as they zoomed past his street.

“He’s gonna meet us there!” yelled Af.

Jamie thought for a second about Cameron’s newer, smoother, car. There was nothing wrong with Af’s truck, they were glad they offered to drive. It was just that with all the windows rolled open and the hot wind blowing in a new direction every second, their long and honestly kinda crunchy hair was flying everywhere and getting stuck in their glasses and lipstick.

“Can we shut a window or two?”

“No, I don’t mind them open!” said Af, half listening to Jamie as they tried to suss out which turn to take to Sasha’s house. Their short (and probably soft, Jamie thought) hair stayed securely tucked behind their ears. It looked very nice flowing in the wind, and Jamie promptly forgot to ask again.

The hair issue lessened as Af finally turned into Sasha’s road. The newer, smoother pavement agreed with the truck’s tires as Af slowly drove further into the residential area. Jamie turned to the left, searching for the house he knew all too well.

“There she is- stop the car.”

Af stepped on the brakes, parking the car squarely behind a little circle of grasses, stones and bushes in the middle of the cul de sac. “Shouldn’t we go get her?”

“She requested a more…” Jamie searched for the right word as they picked pieces of hair out of their face, “covert collection method. Apparently her family is busy with something today, but not so important that she would have to skip an emergency debate team meeting.”

“That’s great, ‘cause I am just sooo good at debating in the face of conflict…” said Af, grabbing the sheet of road related anger management tips off the dashboard and shoved it into their pocket. “Really know how to… keep my cool. Our team would be truly lost without the guidance of our great leader Sasha, though, so she better be able to make it.”

Jamie sent a text to Sasha and waited. 

After a few minutes, Sasha stood on her porch. She wore a maroon blazer and pair of sensible heels as she walked towards the truck. She didn’t bring any purse, but she did hold a small briefcase in her hands. 

“Hello, esteemed debate teammate,” said Af, Sasha hopping into the back seat.

“Hi, Af,” said Sasha. She took her hair out of the ponytail she had put it in and popped open her suitcase. Inside sat a pair of more fun and casual shoes, as well as a very small purse. Pulling off her heels and her blazer, Sasha finally began to relax into her seat as they drove away from her house. “Is Cameron meeting us there?”

“Yep.”

She smiled. “Can’t wait.”

Jamie’s hair blew into their face again as Af turned onto the main road again. Miraculously, Sasha’s hair seemed to behave well in the face of gravity and the laws of physics.

“How the fuck do you do that?”

“Do what?”

They gestured to Sasha’s picture perfect, windswept hair, and then to their own witch-living-in-a-swamp look.

“I brush it, sometimes.” She tossed some over her shoulder, smirking.

Jamie stuck their tongue out and turned back around.

“Do you want a hair tie?”

“Yes, please.”

* * *

They drove out past the center of Cinderbrush, making their way out onto the skinny highway that allegedly tied the town to the rest of the world. Af called for silence so they could focus on “taking the right turns”, as if there was any other route to get to the next town over. They had missed the small rush hour they could have found on a Saturday, so the road only had a few cars on it at any time.

Jamie stared out the window. It was the same thing they always saw whenever they left town this way. The empty paper bags of a fast food company with the best marketing team in the world. Billboards with model families so pale they almost blended into the white marble countertops they were trying to sell. The occasional abandoned diner whose name on the windows didn’t match the one on its sign. Random pits and ditches where rain must have fallen, once. They used to think about throwing themselves into one of them. Now they got to worry more about other people throwing them into one. _Yay for personal growth_ , they thought.

Beginning to feel the sort of suffocating heaviness that came from staring out at a place that you’ve been stuck in for much too long, Jamie looked back into the car. 

Af was looking out onto the road, alert. Jamie mentally high-fived themselves for befriending another gay person who could actually drive. 

_Hold up… befriend?_

Jamie snapped back to the open road. That word sounded like it fit in the head of an eighteenth century schoolboy telling his doting mother about his first day of primary school. Not in the head of a present day shithead who, for the most part, had found that friends seemed like a very risky luxury that they couldn’t afford. Like entering in the stock market with a blindfold on. Then again, some would say selling drugs was also a bit risky. So was dressing like a bat in small-town Arizona. And so was getting attached to the band of misfits who solved a murder mystery together and had the final showdown right outside the little church where your truest friend was supposed to live. They just weren’t sure if it felt right.

… 

_Yeah_. Jamie folded their arms and looked back over at Af. Maybe they all felt a bit too awkward to ask for any more, but befriend was the right word. At its core, this was what having friends was. Sometimes it’s driving through the wide open desert and choosing to stare at the person right next to you.

Jamie looked back at Sasha. She was typing something on her phone, but she was less on edge than she usually seemed.

Sometimes having friends meant driving through the wide open desert and looking at the two people right next to you.

Technically three people but Cameron is in another car and this extended metaphor is already on shaky legs so take it or leave it.

“It looks like the apocalypse out here,” said Af, squinting into the empty road ahead of them. “Which one of us do you think would die first in the apocalypse?”

“Uhhhh,” Jamie thought. “Maybe… Cameron?”

“Really? Doesn’t he have, like, football knowledge that could help in the apocalypse?”

“I guess? It feels like jocks don’t do as well in end of the world scenarios.”

“He’s smarter than you give him credit for,” said Sasha, leaning forward. “I don’t think he’d make it the whole time, necessarily, but, give him a fair shot!” 

“Cameron is the only man I will trust with my life, ever,” said Af.

“Amen!” said Sasha.

“Oh no, don’t say that, Jamie’s gonna explode!”

Jamie stuck their head out at a strange angle and closed their eyes. Snapping their fingers stealthy, a vision of black smoke poured out of their mouth and ears into the open window next to them.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” they yelled, trying not to laugh.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” cried Sasha in mock anguish.

“DAD’S GUILT MONEY!” cried Af, as they turned into the final exit towards the mall.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha uh oh looks like this is gonna be a three parter whoops! The moral of this chapter is that having and keeping friends can be scary especially if friends have hurt you in the past, but at the end of the day you deserve to be loved and you deserve to have support even if it doesn't feel like you should.  
> Thanks yall for the support on the last chapter! I've been sitting in quarantine 2: electric boogaloo while waiting for uni to start up and its been nice to see you guys enjoy what I've been making while I can't take cosplay photos or tiktoks. I honestly have a lot of Cinderbrush ideas floating around in my head so I hope for your continued support.


	3. The Sugar and The Rush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Could it be??? The final chapter???
> 
> Hell yeah bitches come on down and recieve your no plot no porn just teenagers being dumbasses in love.
> 
> Also Jamie was definitely a snot nosed little mall goth when they were younger don't deny it.

As the four horsepower truck turned off the highway, the three teenagers gazed upon the giant greyish-beige building. It sat in the middle of its sprawling parking lot like a concrete flan. 

“Okay, Cameron says his car is… near the entrance by the macy’s,” Jamie said, refusing to refer to a multimillion dollar brand with any ounce of respect. 

“Oh yeah, there it is!” said Af. They inched into a spot between two smaller and expensive looking cars and parked. Almost immediately, they rolled open their window and stuck their torso out. Twisting and turning, they searched for Cameron or his car. 

“Can you smell him?” asked Jamie.

Af sniffed and immediately gagged on the scent of car exhaust and hot tar. “Nope! Nope, just pollution and regret!” They retreated back into the car, hitting their head on the window on the way in. “FUCK!”

“That is  _ so _ tragic,” said Jamie, fixing their lipstick in the car mirror.

“Shut up, Jamie!”

“I think that was cute, Af,” said Sasha.

“Thank you Sasha!” Af rubbed the back of their head in pain. “He _ is _ around here somewhere, but maybe we should use our eyes and ears to find him instead.”

Finally, the three of them braved the hot parking lot and got out of the truck.

Jamie had dressed for the occasion in the same method that most goths did. They looked at the weather forecast for the day, thought _ Nah, these hundred dollar shoes aren’t gonna wear themselves, _ and decided that dying of heatstroke would be a noble death. They wore a different, shorter pair of platforms that wouldn’t break their ankles nearly as badly as the ones they wore two chapters ago. A loose fishnet shirt and stockings were layered with a pair of plaid shorts and an old (read: purposefully weathered in order to seem old without sacrificing the integrity of the cheap shirt fabric) band T-shirt. They paired this with a smattering of genuinely cool accessories but then chose to cover them all by throwing on a long black leather duster to avoid any silhouette that couldn’t be described as a shapeless mass of void. Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way quaked in her black combat boots. Rose Lalonde nodded approvingly.

Sasha, by means of whatever Mary Poppins magic was stored in her debate team briefcase, had drastically changed her outfit. A light, almost summery shirt was layered underneath a fun sleeveless dress. Ribbed socks and a small satchel purse brought the entire look together without too much effort. She threw the outfit together on a whim, but it was also carefully designed to give the right impression to the right kind of people. Just the way she liked it. Everyone smiled for a little bit, because Sasha Murasaki exists and she’s great.

Af wore some clothes they picked up off their bedroom floor and called it a day. 

The two extra bitches and Af walked through the parking lot until they found a familiar car with a very familiar person inside.

Cameron honked his horn and jumped out of his car. “Hey guys!”

“Hi, Cameron,” Sasha walked up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey, Sasha,” he said, kissing back.

“Gross,” said Jamie.

“Rude,”

“I’m kidding. I’m also dying of heatstroke, let’s go.”

* * *

The mall felt both busy and empty at the same time. Many of the tills inside the Macy’s sat empty even as long lines of suburban mothers and their kids stood waiting for the ones that weren’t. 

Somehow, Cameron managed to drag everyone into the athletic gear section, where he excitedly discussed the benefits of the different sneaker brands in different sports while the others silently died a little inside.

“Uuuuuuuugh when Cameron’s done, where do you want to go?” asked Jamie, rubbing their eyes and almost stabbing themself on their rings.

“Does this place have Auntie Anne’s?” asked Af. “You mentioned the mall yesterday and I have not stopped thinking about those little cinnamon bits that they have. I don’t think I’ve actually had them since I was like thirteen.”

“Oh, I’ll spot you for that, it’s fine.”

“What about you, Jamie?”

“I mean…” they looked up to the ceiling and pretended to think for a second.

“Around here? …They’re not gonna have what I need.”

“Jamie just go into Hot Topic I know you want to,” Sasha’s face appeared from behind a pair of cleats. “You go with Af, I’ll stick it out here with Cameron for a bit. We’ll meet up at the food court in an hour. Go complain about the funko pops or something.”

Jamie bristled at the callout but was relieved to have a reason to leave the store. They could feel one of the storehands staring holes into their back through their duster. “Your sacrifice will not be in vain, Miss Murasaki.”

She saluted sarcastically and replaced the shoebox.

“Sorry, Jamie!” called Cameron.

“You’re fine.” They grabbed Af’s hand and dragged them back into the mall. 

“Okay, we’re going this way now, cool. Show me the great wonders of the Hot Topic!” said Af, being led through the shops and down the escalator. “Do you know any of the people who work there? You feel like someone who would.”

“I haven’t actually been to this one that much-”

“Oh my god, Jamie!” a storehand at the front of the Hot Topic with dyed green hair waved them over excitedly. “Haven’t seen you in a hot minute! Who’s this?”

“Hi, Megan, this is Af. Af, Megan.”

“Hhhi Megan,...” said Af, panicking just a little bit. “Nice to meeet you…”

Jamie rolled their eyes.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Af, welcome!” 

Jamie watched the soul leave Megan’s eyes once more as she told Af about the new deal on tshirts and the back wall and yada yada hot cash yada yada. There is no soul-sucking magic like retail. 

“-and let me know if you need anything!”

“Thank you, Megan.”

Jamie walked around the store like a retired cowboy marched around his town that was quickly becoming a city. They stared down the Disney funko pops and anime keychains as if they were- 

“Oh, sick! They have Naruto???”

Af rifled through a pile of orange T-shirts and pulled one out in their size. “I want this one.”

“Don’t ask me to aid in the commodification of my livelihood, Af.”

“What? It’s a Naruto t-shirt. We’ve watched Naruto.”

Jamie turned dramatically to look at the belts on the opposite shelf. “It’s a long story…”

Af stepped softly towards Jamie and slowly, socially, wrapped their arms around their chest a bit closer than is probably acceptable in a Hot Topic. They leaned in and asked...

“Wouldja get it for me,  _ butterfly _ ?”

_ Shit _ . Jamie’s face flushed red. That was cheating, that was a dirty trick, and they knew it. Sweet, clueless Af was  _ not _ the one who’s supposed to twist the situation in their favor like _ that _ , that’s their job. You can’t just disarm a goth in their own house like that for a  _ Naruto T-shirt _ .

They walked over to the counter and placed the shirt down, next to a pair of overpriced earrings and one bottle of nail polish. Megan tiredly scanned their items as Jamie counted out their cash. 

As they finished handing the money over, Af grabbed for Jamie’s hand and their bag. “Thanks, Megan.”

“Get out, please.”

* * *

The two groups met up in the food court. They picked at their various fast food lunches as Af ate handfuls of Auntie Anne’s and also bits of everyone else’s food.

“Find anything cool in Hot Topic?” asked Sasha.

“Eh, not really.” said Jamie, drinking their iced coffee. They didn’t like coffee at all but the barista still owed them for two grams of this and that and they weren’t gonna turn down a free drink if it came their way. “Af found a shirt, so I’m good to go when you all have what you need.”

Af, now wearing said shirt, gestured to it as they chewed their food. Naruto stared back. 

“You’re the one who suggested this… trip, Jamie.” Sasha stirred her drink. “I wouldn’t want to leave if we just dragged you along spending all of your Dad’s guilt money.”

“Yeah, man,” said Cameron. “This mall is kinda shit but is there anywhere else you want to go?”

“Eh,” Jamie pushed the rest of their now lukewarm coffee away. “I didn’t want to take Af into spencer’s.”

“What’s wrong with Spencer’s?” asked Cameron.

“Don’t go into spencer’s.”

“Cameron I dare you to go into Spencer’s.” said Af, scarfing down their cup of cinnamon pretzels at inhuman speeds.

“ _ Why _ …” 

Cameron abandoned his corndog and walked away from their table. 

They all leaned over to watch Cameron leave the food court and march into the little Spencer’s store halfway down the floor. Five minutes later, Cameron walked back out of Spencer’s. Silently, he walked back to the table, sitting gently in his chair next to Af’s empty one. “I feel like a changed man.”

“The back of spencers is the source of all my power,” said Jamie, almost smirking.

“Sure it is, Jamie.”

“Wait, was there a guy working in there with a stick and poke on his neck of a rose?”

“Uh… yeah, why?”

“Nothing. I’ll deal with it later.”

“Jamie how do you know so many people at this mall?” asked Sasha.

“There used to be a little arcade here back in middle school, got dropped off here a lot.”

Jamie glanced back at where the arcade used to sit, now a vacant-

_ Wait.  _

“DUDE!” Af sprinted at them from across the mall. Shoppers leapt out of the way of the speeding ball of chaos as they skidded to a halt in front of their friends.

“ _ They have laser tag _ .”

* * *

Sasha and Jamie sat sweaty and sticky outside the laser tag arena. Both their names sat pathetically low on the laser tag TV roster, while Af and Cameron’s names continued to zigzag up and down between the top spots. They had long since peeled off their leather duster and Sasha was using the shirt under her dress as a sweat towel. It was hot and kind of uncomfortable, but if Jamie could reach past their own inability to accept the good things that came to them, they could have stayed there forever.

“You think they’re ever gonna come out?” asked Sasha, looking at Jamie. Head lolling onto their shoulder, they couldn’t stop looking at her mouth.

“Oh, they’re never coming out,” said Jamie, wiping sweat from their brow. “Ah, fuck.”

“What?”

“I fucked up my makeup.”

Half of their forehead and eyebrow makeup was now on their hand. After those pitiful few rounds of laser tag, Jamie could only fathom what the rest of their face looked like.

Sasha gently grabbed Jamie’s chin and pulled them up to look her in the eyes. The music playing in the mall quieted into a dull thud at the back of Jamie’s mind. Her makeup seemed intact, but it was hard to concentrate on it as she stared them down, smiling. “Mind if I fuck it up even more?”

The two of them then quickly became those gross teenagers that made out in public places. At the moment, neither of them cared much to stop. 

“Gross.”

They glanced up to see Cameron and Af holding little bags with the lazer tag logo on them, sweaty and panting and strong contenders for being the grosser thing on this side of the food court.

Jamie pulled themself off of Sasha. “Who won?”

Cameron ran his hand through his hair, subtly flexing his arms as he posed. “I’m not really sure, actually. Af, what do you think?”

“I’m gonna get you, Cameron Solomon, and you’re not gonna like it,” Af seethed. Realizing their tone, Af stepped back away from him. They shrunched their eyes closed and clenched their fist. It shook as they fought to take a deep breath. “That’s a lie, you totally deserved to win BUT it was close.” They opened their eyes and pointed back at Cameron, still posing like an idiot. A very shiny and handsome idiot. 

“Maybe it’s a good thing you two are going in separate cars,” said Sasha.

“Oh yeah, does anyone want a ride back?” said Cameron, glancing around at the shops that were closing up. “I think we’re gonna get kicked out soon.”

“My parents know what your car looks like so I’ll stay with Af,” said Sasha. “Oh, fuck!” She stared in shock at the clock at the mall entrance. “It’s late, I need to get back. I need to get back like, five fucking minutes ago.”

“Let’s go right now!” said Af, running towards Sasha. “CanIpickyouupplease?!” they asked.

“Yes, lets go!”

Af slung Sasha over their shoulder and dashed out of the mall at inhuman speeds. Sasha waved back at Jamie and Cameron, her hair blowing out in her face and a little hint of that crazy, silly kind of happiness that gets to you once in a while in her eyes and in her smile. They didn’t hear her laugh as Af carried her out of the mall and into their truck like a freshly eloped couple, but she did. It was nice.

“Don’t speed,” said Jamie, as the two of them vanished from view.

“You want a ride?” Cameron asked, his eyes still full of stars.

“Sure.”

* * *

Jamie slumped in their seat as Cameron drove back. The sky was much darker and the desert seemed even emptier. The ride was much smoother and the radio cut out less often, but it almost felt like they’d slip off the road into the sky at any moment, getting lost among the wind and the powerlines and the birds. They absentmindedly counted out the money they had left over. Fifteen dollars and forty seven cents, made up of more nickels and dimes than they’d like. They shoved it messily into their wallet, heavier but still emptier than before.

“Hey, Jamie?”

“Yeah, I’m here.” They put their wallet back in their pocket and straightened up.

“So I won the lazer tag game,”

“Uh-huh,”

“Which means I get a prize but all the prizes they had were like, super small and kiddie.”

“Yeah?”

Cameron took a hand off the wheel and groped around behind his seat for the lazer tag bag. Jamie turned and grabbed it for him.

“Look inside, dude.”

“What did you get?” Jamie looked over at Cameron.

He glanced at Jamie for a second, smiling softly. “Just look inside.”

Jamie slowly and unceremoniously pulled open the plastic bag. In it sat four round items all in different colors that they couldn’t quite make out in the time of night. They grabbed the red one and held it up near the passing streetlight. It was soft, but Jamie still couldn’t make out what it was supposed to be.

“So while I was just, absolutely crushing it in laser tag I kept thinking ‘bout how you said you didn’t find anything you liked, so-”

“What is this, Cameron?” Jamie pushed it into his view, not looking at it.

“Hehe, that one’s yours! I got one for each of us, turn it around.”

Jamie turned the plush around. Staring back up at him were the eyes of a plush Blinky, the red ghost from Pacman. It wasn’t made from the cheap sort of fabric and stuffing that they’d seen far too many snot nosed brats instantly rip apart; it was solid in their hand and had a good weight to it. They stared at it for a while, not knowing what to say.

_ Thanks? Good job? This one was always my favorite, how did you guess? _

“It’s cute.”

“You’re cute.”

Jamie sighed. They were too worn out to deflect that one. “Thanks.”

As Cameron focused on the road back home, Jamie held the little ghost near their face. It smelled like steril spray and the inside of a plastic bag, but soon it would smell like nothing. After they got dropped off, Cameron would go home and his dad would yell at him for coming back so late and his ghost would start to smell like his nothing. On Monday, Cameron would find a way to sneak the last two to Af and Sasha, and those two would smell like their nothings. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

_ There’s a good metaphor in there somewhere,  _ thought Jamie.

“Next time your dad sucks you should call us all up again. This was fun.” Cameron turned back onto the road that connected Cinderbrush to the rest of the world. “Even if it doesn’t come with a bunch of guilt money.”

“Will do,” said Jamie, softly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tada!!!  
> Thanks yall for waiting so long. Not to be a fanfic writer at the end of a new chapter but it took a while to get this one out becuase I was traveling internationally for college moving into my dorms got really sick my debit card didnt work so I was living off of cash and then my dorm hall got a false covid scare so we were stuck in isolation for a week as we slowly ran out of food a narcissistic med student held us all hostage and forced me to take a covid test I was the most depressed I'd ever been and then I YEETED myself out of that situation by coming back home for the rest of the year and in total going through 3 different quarantines in two months. I also had midterms!  
> Doing a lot better now and hoping to write more cinderbrush stuff too!


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